The Ruler of Slan
Reina glared at Kawit with sharp, furious eyes after he slapped her. Even bound and gagged, her fierce temperament refused to yield.
“Oh, now that’s a nice look,” Kawit said.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
“Want me to take it off?”
Reina chewed at the gag, her mouth working furiously, and Kawit immediately understood. He removed the gag without hesitation. The other criminals watched with uneasy glances, clearly worried it might backfire, but each of them had their own calculations.
“Ptoo!”
Reina spat directly into Kawit’s face.
“Do you really think you’ll get away with this? I know you’re planning to sell us as slaves. But I am the eldest daughter of a count’s household. If word of this gets out, none of you will survive.”
Kawit’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, but the criminals behind him reacted in different ways.
“Boss! Just kill them. Why risk making this bigger than it needs to be?” Some spoke without thinking, as if genuinely worried.
“Or we could knock them out and dump them in the forest.” Others offered what they thought were practical solutions.
“Wouldn’t it be fine to use them as playthings for a while before selling them?” A few insisted on sticking to the original plan, though the suggestion of using them as toys had been added. Still, far more voices called for killing or selling them than for letting noble children go.
“Hear that? That’s what my boys think,” Kawit said.
“You filthy bastards…”
Reina realized with despair that reason would never work on these men. Yet a sliver of hope remained. If she could at least figure out their current location, it might make a difference.
She quickly scanned her surroundings, rolling her eyes as far as they could go to take in every detail.
But Kawit’s hand suddenly clamped around her throat.
“Hey. I can see exactly what you’re thinking. I wouldn’t if I were you. Not unless you want to die.”
“Kgh! Hrk!”
Reina had just realized they were inside some kind of warehouse and tried to scream, but Kawit’s grip crushed her throat, preventing any sound. He kept squeezing until she was on the verge of passing out, then finally released her.
“Haa… haa… haaah!”
As Reina gasped desperately for air, Kawit spoke clearly.
“Let me warn you. Don’t cling to any useless hope. You two are premium goods, so we’re treating you well. But if I feel like it, I can kill you both anytime.”
Even with her gag removed, Reina couldn’t utter a word in the face of Kawit’s casual cruelty. He picked up the cloth from the ground and stuffed it back into her mouth.
“Boss, we’re really not killing them?” one of the men asked as Kawit quietly walked away.
“Without those girls, the trip to our destination will take much longer. If any of you lay a hand on them, I’ll personally crack your skull open and eat your brains.”
“Tch. Understood.”
Several of the men let out disappointed sighs, clearly having wanted to kill the girls out of pure bloodlust. The other criminals couldn’t help but be impressed by how well Kawit managed such volatile men.
Whoosh.
Bagan rolled one shoulder as he stepped out of Sally’s space.
“Just as I thought. That was the correct move.”
What he had done inside the Space of Condemnation was information gathering. Within that realm, he could summon the souls of the dead. He had used that ability to call forth the soul of a criminal who had already died.
Though the man was dead, his inherently evil nature made extracting answers difficult. Bagan had put in considerable effort to make him talk—so much so that he almost felt as if blood still stained his fists.
(You were hitting him quite hard. Were you venting your anger?)
‘He was a comrade of the bastards who took Natalie. They even tried to harm her.’
While dragging every last memory from the criminal and listening to his explanation of events, Bagan’s rising fury had been impossible to contain. He had continued to use violence without restraint. By the end, the criminal’s mind had shattered completely, and he answered every question with everything he knew.
The information he obtained was simple.
‘Those bastards are heading for the Tempo Kingdom.’
(Because they went toward the Amir Forest?)
‘The one leading them is a guy named Kawit. From his criminal record, I could tell he wasn’t ordinary. If a man like that suggested going through the Amir Forest—the very path leading to the Tempo Kingdom—he wouldn’t have changed course midway to somewhere else.’
(So instead of heading to another noble’s territory, he went straight for a different country. That means he’s a man with a plan.)
‘Exactly. Just as you said—he’s surprisingly sane. No, he’s actually quite clever. That’s why he’s in charge.’
With a grave expression, Bagan began walking slowly down the underground prison corridor. He would soon leave the dungeon to act on the information he had gained.
When he emerged outside, the sky had already darkened. He couldn’t check the exact time without a clock, but with no one moving about and only a few guards watching the prison, it seemed to be either late night or early morning.
“How did you get in there?”
The sentry on duty was startled to see Bagan walking out as naturally as if the underground prison door had been left open. Normally, one needed a key to come and go, but Bagan possessed the universal key known as magic.
‘As long as I have Unlock, no lock is a problem.’
If the lock had been enchanted or the door protected by a barrier, it wouldn’t have been so simple. But for a basic lock, Bagan could come and go without much effort.
“Ah, I fell asleep and just woke up.”
“Ah, my apologies! You must be Lord Bagan, the one the duke mentioned! It was too dark to recognize you right away!”
Bagan didn’t know how Duke Davens had informed the soldier, but it was good that he avoided any unnecessary conflict.
“If you know who I am, then step aside. I’m in a hurry.”
“Yes, sir! No problem at all, Lord Bagan. Have a safe journey!”
Even at this late hour, the soldier gave a crisp, energetic salute and saw Bagan off. He seemed to be an elite among elite guards.
Bagan continued on without returning the salute, intending to head for the Amir Forest where the criminals had gone. But as he moved a short distance from the underground prison, he sensed someone following him. It wasn’t an ambush.
“Lord Bagan!”
It was because Pol’s mana was so blatantly obvious.
“I’ve been waiting. You knew I was here, yet you were just going to leave?”
It seemed Pol had been waiting for Bagan to emerge from the dungeon.
“…What do you want?”
Bagan had been disappointed in Pol for losing his comrades. He had planned to ignore him. But when it came down to it, he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He understood all too well the bond shared by the party known as Dawn’s Wolf.
“Reina and Natalie… they’re definitely still alive, right? That’s why you’re leaving now, isn’t it?”
At Pol’s desperate plea for any information, Bagan silently nodded.
“Please take me with you. I have no face to show after what happened, but this is all my responsibility. If I can’t save them myself, I’ll never be able to look them in the eye again for the rest of my life.”
Bagan understood Pol’s feelings, but he didn’t find him reliable. So he spoke bluntly.
“Why should I allow extra baggage? I clearly left Natalie in your care. Yet you responded carelessly and broke that trust.”
Pol couldn’t find any words to respond. He realized that continuing to beg would only be a nuisance. But he couldn’t give up.
“I’ve already lost a comrade once because of my own mistake. His name was Charles, a priest of the Priya Religion. He was an upright man, and I trusted him deeply. Even now, I can still hear him grumbling about why I don’t believe in God. It’s the same with Flang. If I had tried just a little harder to keep him from going down the wrong path, he would still be by my side. I can still hear his ridiculous dreams so clearly. I can’t endure this helplessness again—being unable to do anything. I want to save them even if it costs me my life! Please, take me with you!”
Pol’s desperation was so intense that it seemed he would grab onto Bagan’s pants and refuse to let go if rejected again.
(He’s begging like that. Are you really going to ignore him?)
Even Sally had spoken up. She normally showed no interest in anyone but Bagan, yet she was surprisingly lenient toward Pol.
In the end, Bagan wore an expression of reluctant acceptance.
“…Follow me. But if anything happens to Natalie, you’d better be prepared.”
“…At that point, I won’t have any reason to stay alive anyway. So please, I beg you.”
Pol’s face was set with grim determination, his will burning fiercely. And so Bagan set out to rescue Natalie together with Pol.
“Follow quietly. If you do, I won’t do anything to you. But if you cause a commotion, we’ll have no choice but to kill everyone in this village.”
Before leaving for Slan at dawn, Kawit spoke to Reina and Natalie inside the warehouse. Faced with his brutal threat, the two girls had no choice but to nod.
He could have stuffed them back into sacks, but knocking them unconscious again would lower their value as merchandise. Simply carrying sacks would also look far too suspicious. So he used the threat disguised as cooperation.
However, after the conversation the previous night, Reina had a plan and obediently complied. She couldn’t tell Natalie, but she had set something up.
‘If it’s Lord Bagan, he would have realized we aren’t dead and would be able to find traces of us.’
While everyone was asleep, Reina had left a single trace inside the warehouse. She couldn’t use magic openly, so she had carefully scattered her mana to create a device only a mage would notice. It wouldn’t last forever, but if found within a few days, Bagan would definitely be able to come to their rescue.
But there was one variable.
‘Since Lord Bagan isn’t in Davens, it will probably take a long time for him to hear the news.’
Reina still didn’t know Bagan had already arrived in Davens, so that was all she could assume. She had left the strongest trace she could with her maximum mana, but it would only last three days at most. If Bagan didn’t arrive within that time, the two of them would inevitably be sold off to some unknown party.
With those thoughts in mind, Reina cooperated obediently. Natalie, who trusted Reina completely, followed her lead after noticing the meaningful look in her eyes.
And so the group led by Kawit gave their thanks to the village chief, Forte, and set off for Slan.
They arrived in Slan two days after leaving the village.
Slan reeked of poverty exactly as they had heard. Most of the houses were little more than wooden huts with planks laid on top, and even those were small. Many people didn’t even have houses at all. They were all skin and bones from hunger, reduced to begging for even a single coin.
Those walking the streets wore nothing but rags, yet love—or perhaps mere accidents—must have been blooming, because the sound of crying children never ceased. The city was noisy, dirty, and chaotic.
Kawit’s group, having reached this place, naturally moved to carry out their plan. There were no inspections at the city gates, so they headed straight for the lord’s castle.
When dozens of armed men suddenly set foot on his land without any report, the lord was greatly alarmed and immediately issued an extermination order.
“Who the hell are these bastards?! Kill them all!”
Just as Kawit had said, the ones suffering were the lower classes. One only needed to look at the lord’s castle to understand. Even the soldiers protecting him seemed to live decently, equipped with fairly good weapons and armor.
But their level was sorely lacking. These men, who had only suppressed violence and grown drunk on authority, could never match the murderous drive of criminals who had killed without hesitation in real battles.
And among them, Kawit stood out the most.
“Kill every last soldier. Bring the lord to me.”
As he spoke, both of Kawit’s hands held soldiers whose necks had been snapped.
“Hoo… This sword is pretty decent. Shall I move around for the first time in a while?”
While Kawit was decent at hand-to-hand combat, he was actually a user of polearms. He usually read his opponent’s movements with the power in his eyes and slowly cooked them alive, but against this disorganized rabble, there was no need. The increasing amount of blood on his blade as time passed made that clear.
The criminals brutally slaughtered every soldier. Some even picked out weapons and armor that caught their fancy and put them on.
In the center of the criminals now stood the lord of Slan.
“W-what is the meaning of this?!” he cried, drool mixing with his unkempt beard.
“Who knows? Why do you think?” Kawit pointed at one of the criminals. “Hey, you.”
“Have you ever thought about the reason while killing someone?”
“Why would I think about that? I’d rather spend that time killing one more person.”
Hearing the answer, Kawit looked back at the lord and slowly approached him.
“You already know there’s no reason at all.”
He raised high the blood-soaked sword that had cut down countless soldiers.
“Something like killing.”
Slash!
The lord of Slan’s head was severed and rolled across the ground. The criminals snickered at the sight while Kawit was drenched in the blood that sprayed up like a fountain. His face remained completely expressionless.
In an indifferent tone, he said, “Today we’ll throw a party in the castle. After all, it’s a monumental day.”
Unaware of who was coming to Slan, the criminals grew excited while Kawit killed his emotions, already thinking about the next steps ahead.